Kiss The Son

Good morning. Open your Bibles to Psalm chapter 2, please. Psalm 2. Psalm 2. We'll start in verse 1. Why do the nations rage and the peoples plot in vain?

The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers take counsel together against the Lord and against his anointed, saying, Let us burst their bonds apart and cast away their cords from us. He who sits in the heavens laughs, the Lord holds them in derision. Then he will speak to them in his wrath and terrify them in his fury, saying, As for me, I have set my king on Zion, my holy hill.

So I will tell of the decree. The Lord said to me, You are my son, today I have begotten you. Ask of me and I will make the nations your heritage and the ends of the earth your possession. You shall break them with a rod of iron and dash them in pieces like a potter's vessel. So now therefore, O kings, be wise. Be warned, O rulers of the earth.

Serve the Lord with fear and rejoice with trembling. Kiss the Son, lest he be angry and you perish in the way, for his wrath is quickly kindled. Blessed are all who take refuge in him. Oh Lord in heaven, we all come before you now in this moment, needy, weak. Lord, how blessed it is for us to recognize just how weak and needy we are. How we are creatures in sin.

We are the kings of the earth. we are those of the world who have rebelled against you, following the prince of the power of the air, Satan himself, in our rebellion, thinking that the sins of this world is better for us than obedience to our God. Lord in heaven, we certainly are weak people in need of Jesus Christ this Christmas season, of his peace treaty, of the peace that he offers in himself, as he came meek, as he came not as a conquering general to defeat his enemies, but rather he came as a babe, that we can know him and we can find refuge in him, that we can have peace through him. So I thank you, Lord, for showing us our need and I thank you for giving us our need in Jesus.

I pray our ears would be open for this message, my mouth would be ready to proclaim it, and that we would all conform ourselves to the image of this peace offering to Jesus Christ himself. Thank you, Lord. In Jesus' name, amen. Silent night, holy night, all is calm, all is bright. Round yon virgin, virgin, mother and child, holy, infinite, so tender and mild, sleep in heavenly peace.

Silent night, holy night, shepherds quake at the sight, glories stream from heaven afar. Heavenly hosting, alleluia, Christ the Savior is born. silent night holy night son of god loves pure light radiant beams from thy holy face with the dawn of redeeming grace jesus lord at thy birth i only thought it would be it's pretty good that we sang the two hymns that or we sang the last time that we did away in the manger and i can quote that hymn as well because if you remember at the beginning of this advent series i quoted these hymns and I talked about how full of peace they are and how they just really, they highlight the peace that we should have during Advent season. And I said it in a way that was almost as if it was a negative thing, but I didn't mean it to be a negative thing.

If you remember, I said it is good to celebrate the peacefulness of the Christmas season, but we need to make sure it's balanced if you remember We can just have a Christmas celebration that just centered on a baby and the peace of the night that comes with it and think that we doing anything justice to the actual thing that happened Remember we talked about the need for balance. What is that balance? Well, if we celebrate peace during Christmas season, what is that balance to celebrate the fact that this comes in the midst of great turmoil?

And so that's what we've been doing in Psalm 2. We've been looking at the turmoil, the context surrounding the peaceful season of this baby coming. And so as we do this, we can then be well balanced. I remember talking to one Christian who said they just didn't quite feel the Christmas season in their hearts this year. And I asked, well, what does Christmas mean to you?

And really what Christmas meant to this Christian was simply the fact surrounding of a baby and the peace that comes with it. And celebrating just how nice of a scenery that must be and all the things, the cultural underpinnings that come with it. And if that's it, then, beloved, we are missing something very essential in Christmas. So this has been the whole thing as we've gone through these last several weeks, that we would remind ourselves of the turmoil, of how significant that Jesus would come in a babe and how peaceful that is in light of the context of the turmoil surrounding his coming.

That's what we ended, if you remember, in Psalm 2. Remember how we ended? in Psalm 2 verse 9, you shall, talking about Jesus' babe, you shall break them with a rod of iron and dash them in pieces like a potter's vessel. That's terrifying to think about. Jesus, and part of this decree that the Father has given him is that he would defeat his enemies in the most terrifying way.

Imagine being in the sights of Jesus as he brings this down upon his enemies. That is awful to consider. In fact, imagine if you will with me for a moment that this psalm and the promises of God ended in verse 9 of chapter 2. Think about that for a moment. Imagine that the promises of God, and here's Psalm 2, everything ended with verse 9. That Jesus will come and dash his enemies to pieces.

How terrifying a reality would that be for all of us in this room that this is what we have to look forward to. Christmas would not be the babe that we know of this meek Savior. Instead, Christmas would be what we see in Revelation. Why don't we just go there? This is what Christmas would be if you go to Revelation 19 with me. christmas would not be that peaceful scene of jesus being born on that silent night no christmas would be revelation 19 verse 11 then i saw heaven open and behold a white horse the one sitting on it is called faithful and true and righteousness he judges and makes war.

That's terrifying. Imagine that being Christmas. He judges and he makes war. But you see, if this was Jesus' first coming, if this was Christmas, then this would play out differently, wouldn't it? In verse 12, his eyes are like a flame of fire. You know what that means?

He sees everything. And if you're an unbeliever today, right now in this moment, Jesus sees everything. He hates evil, he hates sin, and he sees yours today. That is a terrifying thought of turmoil. His eyes were a flame of fire, and on his head are many diadems. And he has a name written that no one knows but himself.

But see, if this was his first coming, we would have to change verse 13, wouldn't we? Because he is clothed in a robe dipped in blood, and the name by which he is clothed is the word of God, and which he is called is the word of God. See, if this was his first coming, there would be no blood. There would be no bloody Jesus. There would only be the vengeance that he's pouring out on his enemies.

There would only be blood in front of him, not on him. And, of course, we'd have to change verse 14 too, wouldn't we? And the armies of heaven arrayed in fine linen, white and pure, were following on white horses. We're following him. You see, we wouldn't be behind Jesus as we witness him devastating his enemies, dashing them to pieces, but instead we would be in front of Jesus and we'd see his holy hatred on us.

Imagine if verse 9 were to stop and the promises of God would stop at verse 9 and there was no salvation we would only have his holy fury on us From his mouth comes a sharp sword with which to strike down the nations and he will rule them with a rod of iron. He will tread the winepress of his fury, of the wrath of God the Almighty on his robe and on his thigh. He has a name written King of Kings, Lord of Lords.

Praise be to God. We don't stop at verse 9, do we? We do not stop in Psalm 2, verse 9. You shall break them with a rod of iron and dash them to pieces like a potter's vessel. But thanks be to God, the promises of God go forward. They move on.

Look at verse 10 through 12. Now therefore, O kings, be wise. Be warned, O rulers of the earth. See how good of a warning that is? That's a warning. That's a good, loving warning of this king that we see.

You know what's good about warnings? It's usually it's posted before you make the mistake, isn't it? You know, a road that's going off a cliff. Why do roads go off the side of cliffs anyways? Why does that happen? Why do they make roads go into the cliffs in the movies?

I don't get that. But if you see, when that's the case, the sign is before you get to the cliff, right? The warning, hey, don't go any further. You're going to go off a cliff. The sign is never at the bottom of a cliff, right? where your car is smashed to pieces and you have a sign right there, a warning sign. No, it's always before you made the mistake, before you went off the cliff.

See, the good thing about warnings is usually they're posted before you make the mistake. And beloved, here it is. Here's a warning. That although Jesus is going to dash his enemies to pieces, you can be forewarned and you can escape that punishment. This is a blessed warning indeed. thank God for these great transition periods in scripture. You know, we have quite a few of them.

One thing you should do in your study of scripture is take note of these times where situation is terrible, but then something dramatically changes. It's like a 180. You know what I'm saying? And here is one right here. Now, therefore, in light of the fury, the turmoil, what Jesus is going to bring down upon his enemies, be warned. It's a difference.

And we get one of those and it's blessed in Ephesians 2. it's probably the most famous at least the one I like to meditate upon that kind of war that kind of transition or there's something that that turns 180 you know something almost unexpected and we see in Ephesians 2 right 1 through 3 we get the same kind of picture and you were dead in the trespasses and sins in which you once walked following the course of this world following the prince of the power of the air the spirit that is now at work and the sons of disobedience among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath like the rest of mankind. We were in rebellion, right? We were ready to be judged by this Jesus who would dash our rebellion to pieces.

That's what we were ready for. But you see, once again, what if Scripture would end there? What if that's it? Get ready for your judgment. But it isn't. Blessed be the name of our Father who gives us a promise in Scripture. it goes on in which it says what?

But God, right? God has done something merciful, gracious. He's rich in it. Even when we're dead in our trespasses and sins, he made us alive together with Christ. The one who's going to dash his enemies is the one who's going to give refuge to those same people who deserve his wrath, but instead receive his grace. Isn't that amazing how God operates that way?

The one who's going to execute vengeance, that is the one we take refuge, refuge in. The scriptures go on to promise that we can find refuge in him. So this is a warning in Psalm 2. It's something that goes beyond the terrifying realities of the second coming of Jesus, and it describes that there's a warning that there is the first coming of Jesus here in Psalm 2.

So this is what we're going to see here in the next few minutes. We get a warning, but then we get, maybe should I say this right, we get a warning, but then we get a gracious and wonderful invite as well We get a warning but we also get a wonderful warm invite as well What is this warning Well in verse 10 of Psalm 2 this warning starts off now therefore right in light of the fact that Jesus this Son of God this anointed one the fact that he has so much power and authority and he will execute it despite your rebellion, since that's the case, O kings, be wise and be warned, O rulers of the earth. Have wisdom, Wisdom is the ability to choose what is proper and correct, right?

Stop choosing your rebellion. Stop choosing your sin. Stop choosing to try to break away the yoke of Jesus. Stop doing that foolish act and be wise. Choose a different path for yourself. How important is that to give that warning to all unbelievers, right?

Stop being foolish. Stop acting like you can live within your rebellion and do something proper. No, no, no. Be wise and choose the right path. Be wise. Be warned.

But this warning goes on in verse 11. It says, serve the Lord. There's actually two things that they are to do, that they're told to do. And then they're told how to do it. They are to serve the Lord. They are to rejoice.

And they are to do it with, how they're to do it is with fear and trembling. So what are they to do? They're to serve. They're to worship. The word there has the connotation of worship the Lord. What's the difference?

Well, it's a direct contrast with what they were doing earlier in the psalm, isn't it? They were in rebellion. They were trying to break the cords away from them. They were trying to break away from this powerful, sovereign God. And now they're being told, be wise, go a different path. Instead, you are to serve this God.

You are to worship this God. You know what is the most natural thing to do as people who are born as children of wrath? It's to serve our sin instead. You know how natural it is, how good it feels to serve your sin. How much of a warning we need to be told to don't act so foolishly. Do not do what feels right naturally within your rebellious heart.

But instead you are to what? Serve the Lord. You are to worship the Lord. You are to serve him and his kingdom. But you see, God is not satisfied with wooden service. God is not satisfied with a joyless worship.

God is not satisfied with just going through the motions. See, God is worthy of all worship and service, and he's worthy to be done in a particular way. What way is that? What else are we supposed to do? We are to, what it says in verse 11, serve the Lord, and we'll get to with fear later, and rejoice. Rejoice.

Not only are we to serve the Lord, but in our service to the Lord, we are to be people who are rejoicing in our service. I remember before becoming a Christian, I thought it was just enough for me to just go through the motions. And I hated it, and I didn't like it, but I thought, well, that's just how things go. God is worthy of the service we give him, and God is worthy for us to do it in a way that's full of joy.

In fact, if our worship of God, our service of God is not done in joy, we're doing it wrong. So does that mean that when we are not have any joy at all in our heart, does that mean, well, therefore, you know, I might as well not continue. I might as well not do it. No, it just means that we know that this is not the what God is worthy of. This is not the way that God wants me to serve him and worship him.

So therefore, what do you do? You cry out to the Lord. Change my heart. Give me rejoicing in this. Give me joy in this. Don't let me just go along in the motions.

Don't let me just be dry and wooden. But let me rather be full of life as I worship you because this is what you command from us. This is a warning. You have been living in rebellion. You must now serve him, be wise and serve him, and do it with rejoicing. Do it with joyful hearts.

This is what God commands, warns. Stop your rebellion and do this instead. And notice, though, serve the Lord, he says in verse 11, with fear and rejoice.